Headlines

Seoul, Apr.21.– North Korea’s announcement that it has suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests reflects Kim Jong Un's desire to have the upper hand ahead of landmark summit talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.

North Korea also said April 20 that it plans to close its nuclear test site.

In making the declaration, Kim may well have taken into account a possible backlash by the North Korean military elite to the abrupt change of course in the country's nuclear policy, according to sources who closely monitor North Korean affairs.

Strasboutg, Apr.17.– Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, French President Emmanuel Macron urged Europeans to halt a retreat into nationalism and rebuild the European Union as a bulwark of liberal democracy.

He won applause from lawmakers after condemning the rise of "illiberal democracies" even within the EU.

Echoing the language of historians about Europe's slide into war a century ago, Macron said he would not belong to another "generation of sleepwalkers" and let the EU wither in what he called an atmosphere of "civil war".

The Post Office Department was transformed in 1971 into the United States Postal Service, an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States and the Postmaster General ceased to be a member of the President’s Cabinet.

 Washington, Apr.12.– President Donald Trump has signed an executive order establishing a task force to study the United States Postal System.

Germany is becoming more open and diverse  

With the right leadership, it could be a model for the West

Berlin, Apr.12.– Since the fall of the Berlin Wall the Ampelmännchen, the jaunty, behatted “little traffic-light man” of communist East Germany, has escaped his dictatorial roots to become a kooky icon of Germany’s trendy capital. Tourists pose with life-size models and snap up memorabilia in souvenir shops. The Ampelmännchen’s quirky coolness is an increasingly apt symbol of the country as well as its capital. As our special report in this issue describes, Germany is entering a new era. It is becoming more diverse, open, informal and hip.

At first blush that seems a preposterous suggestion. The Germany of international newspaper headlines is a country with anxious citizens and stagnant politics. Angela Merkel is Europe’s longest-standing political leader, a woman who epitomises traditional German caution.